Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message rang true to many. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
